Markey Culver

I believe in opportunity. Improving people's lives by creating access to opportunity is my life's mission.

I joined the Peace Corps in 2010. Assigned to Rwanda, I witnessed a multitude of plights in my rural village, the most poignant of which were social inequality, malnutrition and stunted opportunity. Women's economic and social subjugation were the most difficult to witness as I considered them root causes for poverty.

I conceptualized the idea of a women’s bakery business – an opportunity-generating mechanism for village women with ancillary benefits of nutrient-fortified breads sourced from local farmers that would thus propagate a community economy. I would harness business as a tool for social good, providing a self-sustaining solution for Rwandan women’s financial independence and social autonomy.

It worked. And today, I am successfully expanding the bakery model throughout East Africa.